Share this image

Deliveries in space: the SpaceX mission

( Updated: 04/25/2014 )

View Gallery

The SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo spacecraft is grappled to Canadarm2 at the International Space Station in this NASA picture taken April 20, 2014. The supply capsule brought nearly 2-1/2 tons of supplies and scientific payloads to the station. NASA/Handout/Reuters

The SpaceX Dragon capsule approaches the International Space Station, as photographed by the Expedition 39 crew members onboard the orbital outpost April 20, 2014. NASA/AP

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Oct. 7, 2012. The unmanned, privately owned Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo capsule are on a mission to restore a US supply line to the International Space Station, after the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet. Michael Brown/Reuters

The Dragon spacecraft is parked Jan. 12, 2013, in a hangar at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., where teams had just installed its solar array fairings. SpaceX, a California-based company, launched its unmanned Falcon rocket on March 1, 2013, carrying a Dragon capsule containing more than 1 ton of food, tools, computer hardware, and science experiments for the International Space Station. Kim Shiflett/NASA/AP

Johnson St. Global Magnet science club members Ryan Darden, Summer Shoemake, Aya Abdelaziz, and Ashka Shah pose for a photo in High Point, N.C., on Sept. 12, 2012. The club collaborated on a science experiment – to test mold-spore reproduction in space – that was sent to the International Space Station on the first trip by SpaceX's Dragon to the orbiting lab. Don Davis Jr./The Enterprise/AP

The Dragon spacecraft floats on the surface of the Pacific Ocean about 500 miles off Mexico's Baja California on May 31, 2012, after its first mission to the International Space Station. Michael Altenhofen/SpaceX/Reuters

The SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft, as seen from a camera on the end of the International Space Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm, moves away from the station on May 31, 2012, in preparation for its return to Earth. NASA/AP

With the thin blue atmosphere of Earth serving as a backdrop, the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft is berthed to the Earth-facing side of the International Space Station's Harmony node May 27, 2012. NASA/AP

Liftoff of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and unmanned Dragon capsule turns night into day at Florida's Cape Canaveral early May 22, 2012. The rocket streaks over a model of NASA's space shuttle at the Kennedy Space Center. Craig Rubadoux/AP

The SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft docks with the International Space Station using the station's Canadarm2. Dragon is scheduled to spend about a week docked with the station before returning to Earth on May 31, 2012, for retrieval. NASA/AP

The Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., early May 22, 2012. This launch marks the first time a private company sent its own rocket to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. John Raoux/AP

Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers (l.) and American astronaut Donald Pettit, aboard the International Space Station on April 20, 2012, await the arrival of the SpaceX Dragon supply capsule, which had been set to launch from Cape Canaveral. NASA/European Space Agency/AP

President Obama (l.) and Elon Musk of SpaceX look at the company's Falcon 9 launch vehicle at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 15, 2010. Alex Brandon/AP/File

Flight hardware for the inaugural launch of the Falcon 9 rocket undergoes final integration in the hangar at SpaceX's Cape Canaveral launch site in Florida on Feb. 11, 2010. Components include Dragon spacecraft qualification unit (l.), second stage with Merlin Vacuum engine (c.), and first stage with nine Merlin 1C engines (r.). SpaceX/File